The Co-Chairman of the Association of Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia (RSM), “Shemeto” Bekir Kadrieski, was beaten by a stranger – who kept calling him a ‘dirty Bulgarian’ during the beating – in the city of Struga, he told Nova TV.
At the end of January, Macedonian-Bulgarian citizen Hristian Pendikov, secretary of a controversial Bulgarian club in Ohrid, was attacked. He was evacuated for treatment in Sofia and later received Bulgarian citizenship, with the incident causing diplomatic tensions between the two countries, with Sofia reiterating demands to include Bulgarians as a minority in the constitution.
Kadrieski said that during the beating, he was insulted on ethnic grounds with the words “dirty Bulgarian”.
The Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that Kadrieski is in a hospital in North Macedonia, and the case is being investigated.
The police in Struga took Kadrieski’s testimony to clarify the facts of the case, and whether it was a hate crime, BTA reported.
Kadrieski is a citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia, he does not have a Bulgarian passport but is a member of the Bulgarian community.
The Ambassador of Bulgaria in North Macedonia, Angel Angelov, is in contact with him, as is the country’s consul in Bitola.
Bulgaria lifted its veto on North Macedonia’s opening of EU membership talks last year, but relations between the two countries have not moved forward since then.
The series of early elections in Sofia and the lack of a stable government until recently also did not help to achieve progress.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)
Read more with EURACTIV
Tensions rise between Czech nationals, Ukrainians following murder
Source: euractiv.com
